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Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Program
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 51 French Street, MEB 212 New Brunswick, NJ 08903 Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency Program ''Comment (Updated 12/9/2019) '' Residency Program Name: RUTGERS RWJMS (no longer UMDNJ) Residency Program Director: Dr. Billie Fyfe-Kirschner Number of residents (per year / total): Generally 2-3 new residents each year for up to a total of 11 in the program Pros: *Amazing attending-to-resident ratio. Because we are a smaller program, we get great one-on-one time with attendings with a good mix of more experienced and new-in-practice attendings who are a great resource for general residency issues and fellowship advice. *CP/autopsy rotations (approximately 7 over 4 years) at Cooper University Hospital/MD Anderson (Camden, NJ). There is also the possibility for elective surgical pathology rotations at CUH/MDA where they have a higher volume and very diverse mix of specimens due to their affiliation with MD Anderson. *Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) is a valuable resource and opportunities are available to attend their precision medicine tumor board and get involved in interdisciplinary research. Additionally,our program received a $10M grant to develop our next generation sequencing laboratory and residents will rotate through as part of our molecular pathology rotations (currently, we have 2 rotations over 4 years). *Book fund is $600/year, and may be used towards tablets and books. Departmental education fund is $1000/year and may be used for board exam fees and conferences. We also receive reimbursement for each Cooper rotation for transportation costs (~700 dollars for the total 20 days). If a resident presents at a conference (poster, talk), then the department completely covers the cost of the conference outside of the departmental education funds. *A new surgical pathology curriculum was recently developed which incorporates both general and sub-specialized training with graduated responsibility. Residents are focused on grossing a set number of educational surgical specimen (no biopsies) and are tasked with following their specimen from start to finish. Our graduating residents have excellent practical skills and are well-trained. *Dr. Fyfe is a great learning resource for medical renal/transplant and autopsy (she co-authored the Elsevier textbook on Hospital Autopsy). We also have a stellar record at placing previous residents at the NY Medical Examiners Office for forensics fellowships. *The autopsy rotation is standalone (~4 in 4 years). We run a regional and private autopsy service, in addition to getting in-house cases. Residents are well-trained in autopsy pathology and do not have trouble achieving their numbers. *Blood bank runs the apheresis service (not nephrology) so residents, especially with an interest in transfusion medicine fellowship, can receive extensive exposure in this area. *Protected half-day didactic time every Wednesday with additional weekly hematopathology, microbiology, cytology, and IHC scope didactics. *Residents get along well and work as a team. Great environment. Cons: *Weak in clinical chemistry at RWJ (Cooper CP rotation is actually really good, though). *If you want to be in a busy city, this is not the program for you. If you want to focus on your career and have the option to take a short drive to NYC/PHI/NJ beaches on the weekend, then come here. *Cooper rotations can, at times, be heavy on autopsies and can take time away from CP learning. *Autopsy can be heavy months, but residents are well-trained due to the large volume that they handle. Average work hours on surgical path? 50-65 hours/week Are you allowed to do external rotations? Yes, we have two electives with no disruption in salary support. An elective rotation for fellowship is encouraged and Dr. Fyfe will go out of her way to make it happen. Do you feel you have: Adequate preview time? Yes. Adequate support staff: Yes, currently we have 4 PA's who gross a majority of surgical specimen. This allows residents to focus on educational grossing specimen (i.e. large tumor resections, educational mediums and smalls) and has allowed for more preview time. Adequate AP Teaching? Yes Adequate CP Teaching? Yes Are Fellowship Programs Offered? Yes; Hematopathology Hematopathology Fellowship This is a one year ACGME-accredited fellowship with one position available each year with graduated responsibilities based on competency. The fellow will acquire broad and diverse experience on in-house and consult services which include both adult and pediatric lymph node and bone marrow pathology, flow cytometric immunophenotyping and immunohistochemistry, diagnostic ancillary testing, and non-neoplastic hematologic disorders. Additional rotations include coagulation, molecular diagnostics with time in our next generation sequencing laboratory, cytogenetics, and elective time with a continuous focus on the acquisition of laboratory management skills.